1. Field of the Invention
One or more embodiments of the invention are related to the field of information monitoring, content filtering and content control of information for electronic devices and/or control of electronic devices or apparatus employing one or more electronic devices, as well as compliance management and event detection. Any electronic devices may be throttled including but not limited to telephones, computers, games, televisions, music players, vehicles, cars, motorcycles, remote controls for audio/visual components, household devices or any other stationary or moveable object. Embodiments are configured to throttle or in any manner limit, alter, for example at least partially decrease or increase the functionality of any electronic device/apparatus and/or throttle or in any manner limit, alter, for example at least partially decrease or increase information that is input to, output from, used on or exchanged with electronic devices based on compliance with agreements” or events and/or based on schedule, location, time. Throttling thus may include changing functionality of a device from and including 0% functionality to any partial functionality up to and including 100% functionality, as opposed to known solutions that are off or on only, i.e., completely blocked/unusable or fully functional devices. Functionality involves the set of functions or capabilities associated with an electronic device, including but not limited to the speed of responsiveness, speed of information access, the number of apps accessible on a mobile device, the amount or type of weapons in a game, the acceleration levels or speed of the actual electronic device for example an engine computer coupled with an automobile or motorcycle. For example, throttling may be utilized to continue to provide a functional device and/or access to information such as websites or TV channels, albeit with at least partially decreased or at least partially increased capabilities or functionality, e.g., at a reduced rate or lower resolution/brightness/audio quality than maximum and/or continue to allow a person to drive a car albeit at a reduced acceleration, RPM or speed, for example based on the person's grades at school, etc., unlike the completely on/off content filters currently in use. If the agreement performer's agreements are satisfied, the functionality may be restored fully or partially increased fore example. An agreement includes one or more conditions to satisfy the agreement, and actions that are performed to enforce or assert the agreement with respect to any or all electronic devices associated with the agreement performer. Conditions may include one or more tasks or activities to be performed by an agreement performer for example based on a schedule and/or location, at a particular time, or time period, or events that may be encountered or monitored. Actions may include throttling of electronic devices or associated information based on whether an agreement performer such as a child has finished assigned homework, chores or extracurricular activities or events such as weather or health related for example or any combination thereof to redefine the experience of parenting. Embodiments may reduce or block information from particular sources not related to a scheduled event, e.g., school class and at least partially increase or enable web surfing for information related to that event, or class based on a schedule and/or location of the electronic device. Other embodiments may be utilized for improved compliance and control of electronic devices in corporate or institutional settings or self-compliance single user settings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronics devices are ubiquitous and include telephones, computers, games, televisions, music players or any other electronic devices that are programmable, including but not limited to programmable controllers or computers within vehicles, cars, motorcycles, remote controls, household devices or any other stationary or moveable object. Many of these devices are being adopted and utilized for more diverse functions and at increasingly younger ages, especially information devices. Some electronic devices are considered to be “externally facing” because of their network capabilities that may include for example exchanging of information with external servers. These devices may include Internet access, WiFi capabilities, BLUETOOTH® or other wireless communications technologies, and generally have IP addresses, or other unique identifiers and/or GPS functions. Currently, electronic devices that historically have not had an external exchange of information with a communications network are gradually becoming network-enabled, for example part of the standard “home network”. The home network includes television and/or cable set top boxes, computer printers capable of remote status reporting, air conditioning units with remote monitoring, and even appliances, including refrigerators with remote temperature setting capabilities.
There are no known systems that throttle electronic devices or throttle information, e.g., at least partially limit or increase/decrease functionality, for example at a value between completely off and completely on while also including fully off and on values or blocked or full bandwidth, e.g., to/from/on the electronic devices, based on compliance with agreements having conditions based on activities performed by an agreement performer or events such as external events and/or based on schedule, location, time or any combination thereof. Known solutions may interrupt a child from playing a game or watching a programming in order to ask a question that a parent must create, which places a burden on the parent to create test questions and which completely cuts off access to the function that the electronic device was performing until the question is answered, e.g., complete blocking for a period of time as opposed to throttling to partially decrease functionality which enables a child to continue to watch a program albeit at a reduced resolution, brightness, black and white instead of color, reduced sound quality or any combination thereof. Existing solutions related to Quality of Service (QoS) and Grade of Service (GoS) are related to providing priority to different users, and not providing an altered priority or service level for a particular user based on conditions of an agreement that include activities or events that may directly or indirectly affect a user, such as school grades, schedule associated with a person or location associated with the person and/or electronic device. For example, QoS products attempt to preserve a particular data flow for a given user or application and are not capable of altering bandwidth or type of information accessed or altering the functionality of the device itself based on homework status, test grades, compliance with a corporate training requirements, or health related events such as heat, cold, pollen, smog or other events, or for example whether or not a child can access math related websites if the child is scheduled to be in math class at the time.
With respect to younger age groups, use of mobile electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and portable computers is increasingly. For example, children are being given mobile devices at younger ages and/or Internet access. This has led to a new generation of technically knowledgeable children whose lives are centered on “networked” communication such as texting, mobile phone calls, use of applications on mobile devices, use of social networks/media, peer-to-peer video games, cloud-based video games, and general websites on the Internet. For this generation, the web has expanded to well beyond e-mail and e-commerce web sites, and has become a source of videos, game playing, social connection, news, applications, and a platform for sharing ideas, music, pictures, videos and various forms of multimedia.
This incredible paradigm shift has resulted in individuals of all ages spending an inordinate amount of time using electronic devices, and in turn becoming distracted by them, hindering productivity and adversely impacting time and organizational management systems and in general making people less engaging in person, less physically active and less healthy. Whether through phone calls, texting, use of apps, social networks, video games, and general websites, children in their most formative years, for example 5-12 years old and even younger and older children as well, are particularly at risk for distraction. This level of distraction leads to sub-par academic performance, incompletion or delayed completion of household chores, or other assigned activities, such as physical exercise, taking of medications, etc. There are no known systems that throttle electronic devices or throttle information to/from/on electronic devices associated with children based on their compliance with agreements or other events and/or based on schedule, location, time or any combination thereof. For example, known solutions completely set functionality at 0% or 100%, but nowhere in between and there are no known systems that at least partially increase or decrease web access to websites, television programs or limit mobile phone or text message usage or any combination thereof, or otherwise as described herein, based on compliance with an agreement, such as achieving a particular grade on homework or a test or an event such as temperature, allergy or smog events or any combination thereof. Known systems either completely disable access or enable access fully, i.e., 0% or 100% and in no way provide any partial functionality or speed based on grades or weather related events for example. At stated, some solutions require a question to be answered in order to regain access to a game or the Internet. This is an example of a device that completely blocks access and then fully enables access after a question is answered. Until that question is answered there is no way in which to access the Internet, even in an emergency.
In corporate settings, some employees are required to maintain competency in a particular area and are required to read or be tested, for example on safety or other job requirements. There are no known systems that throttle electronic devices or throttle information to/from/on electronic devices associated with employees based on their compliance with agreements or other events. There are no known systems that limit web access to work related websites or limit mobile phone or text message usage within a building or any combination thereof, or otherwise as described herein, based on compliance with an agreement, such as taking a required training test or an event such as a weather emergency or only enabling access to particular sets of documents during a meeting related to a particular matter or any combination thereof.
One method for controlling these devices and/or networks is to confiscate the devices, or deactivate Internet access. This is sometimes difficult to do or may cause safety issues by disabling ones ability to dial emergency telephone numbers for example. Other solutions to limit Internet access include use of proxy servers or web filtering software. Known proxy servers and web filtering software are basic content filters that filter information on computers based on a web address or the content at a website. In effect, these filters limit “what” a user may view or do. These types of filters generally block all information from a domain or website that contains content that meets some criteria, wherein the blocking is based entirely on the content itself and not any external criteria or conditions or events. In addition, some types of filters have time ranges for use that limit the times at which a user may view or do something. Phone based filtering is used for parental control to limit the number of texts or cell phone minutes that a child may use, or to alert a parent if a child is out of a defined area. Other solutions may disable texting if the mobile phone is moving, to prevent texting while driving, without regard to a portable computer such as a tablet or laptop that a child may have which may not block this behavior. Hence, known solutions are also standalone, configured on a per device basis and not across all electronics devices associated with a particular person, e.g., the person's tablet computer, cell phone and personal computer.
Knowledgeable users may easily bypass some types of content filters. One such method for bypassing these types of filters includes using open and anonymous HTTPS transparent proxies for example. Thus, known filters cannot control email, instant messages or chat sessions in any sophisticated manner since these types of open proxies may be utilized to bypass any installed web filtering software.
Other solutions do not actually control the devices, but rather involve monitoring software that is highly invasive and intercepts or otherwise supervises electronic devices and copies keystrokes, screen images, text messages and any other input or output to the electronic device to a third party for surveillance purposes. This type of solution is used to monitor children, employees, in intelligence services and for remote home surveillance for example. There are negative limitations to this solution, privacy being a major problem area.
On the positive side of reinforcement, there are also point based incentive systems that attempt to positively reward a person for a type of behavior, for example by earning points. These types of systems are also standalone and do not tie into any electronics to limit usage in any intelligent manner for example for across multiple electronics devices associated with a person, such as a child or employee or institutionalized individual.
There are no known systems that control electronic devices, for example dim screens, i.e., adjust brightness or color space of a display, limit sound power output, activate sounds, introduce delays or throttle, decrease or increase the amount of or type of information to/from/on the electronic device based on compliance with an agreement or event and/or based on schedule, location, time or any combination thereof or any combination thereof. This includes vehicles, such as a car, wherein there are no known solutions that set a maximum acceleration, RPM or speed limits setting based on performance on homework or a grade obtained on an examination as part of an agreement for example or based on an event such as if a weather website indicates a chance of slippery road conditions or an accident local to an area where the automobile is currently travelling or during particular time periods where motorists may be inclined to drink alcohol or any combination thereof.
There are no known systems that increase bandwidth or sources of information for an agreement performer if the agreement performer has walked, biked, run or swim or otherwise moved by their own effort over a predefined distance for health compliance. There are no known systems that throttle or increase bandwidth in case of high pollen count or smog alert events to encourage a child to stay inside and surf the web or play games, or decrease bandwidth or type of information if the weather is good outside to promote exercise such as physical game play instead of video game play. There are no known systems that throttle or limit or reduce bandwidth or sources of information based on the location of an electronic device if a child is currently grounded and increase the bandwidth in the location where the child is not grounded. There are no known systems that limit game playing capabilities or levels in games based on compliance with an agreement or event. There are no known systems that limit playlists, or particular songs or song types, e.g., with offensive lyrics, based on compliance with an agreement or event. There are no known systems that throttle a device based on activities associated with another user or a group of other users, i.e., friends of a child or work groups to encourage better circles of friends or improved group performance. This for example enables a parent to indirectly reward a child to encourage a child to associate with well-behaved children.
In addition, there are no known systems that data mine for rewards that may be utilized by a parent for a reward that is similar to a reward for a condition that another parent or person has utilized. There are no known systems that enable manufacturers to data mine for types of rewards or incentives and target a group of parents or persons that may buy certain types of products based on agreements and conditions. There are no known systems that enable parents or other persons to remain up to date on items popular amongst children that are based on agreements that other parents have entered and which have resulted in rewards for meeting conditions of the agreements. There are no known systems that displays potential rewards based on bandwidth usage based on information monitoring with respect to a condition of an agreement, to provide further incentive to perform a task for example. There are no known systems that provide popups or text messages during game play showing tasks to be completed according to agreements. There are no known systems that determine if a child is communicating with a known sex offender, for example based on sex offender maps and IP tracing, for example alert to a parent and potentially throttle other forms of electronic device utilization to further protect a child. There are no known systems that alert a parent when a child's friends have gotten in trouble or are not meeting their agreements, so that a parent may limit a child's interactions with particular people or groups. There are no known solutions that limit a person's agreement with himself or herself to throttle usage based on addictive behavior such as online gambling or obsessive pornography viewing. There are no known systems that data mine an agreement database having multiple parents and children to determine whether a parent is strict or not strict, or to rate how strict a parent is being with respect to other parents, agreements and conditions, or in any other manner rate what kind of parent a parent is based on how a child is performing and the rewards that a child is receiving for example. There are no known systems that provide tips or recommendations for example to improve a child's performance based on parent and/or child behavior with respect to agreements.
In summary, known solutions either intrusively monitor, or filter content entirely on a per device basis and do not throttle information based on conditions, or compliance with agreements or events, for example that are network detectable. Known solutions simply enable or disable the information entirely and on a per device basis without regard to the other devices associated with an agreement performer, such as a child, or employee or other user. For example, known solutions do not throttle an electronic device to at least partially limit or decrease or increase information input, output or exchanged with one or more electronic devices such as but not limited to a telephone, computer, game, television or music player or any other device having a computer or any combination thereof based on whether a student has finished assigned homework, chores or extracurricular activities, or whether an employee has complied with a work requirement.
For at least the limitations described above there is a need for a schedule and location responsive agreement compliance controlled information throttle.